In a bizarre case of overzealous government run amok, Washington, D.C.'s Department of Public Works branded a two-year-old girl with the ominous title: VIOLATOR — and slapped her with a $75 ticket in the mail for littering.

"I opened up an envelope that listed Harper as having violated D.C.'s littering code," said the toddler's mother, Theresa, according to a local CBS affiliate. "And Harper goes, 'littering, that's not good.'"

In an alley directly behind Harper Westover's home, Public Works workers discovered two unopened envelopes — one bearing Theresa's name and the other addressed to the toddler from Bucky's Buddies, a club for young fans of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, as the Washington Post reported.

Appalled her daughter had received a citation for littering, Theresa — an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board — contacted the solid waste inspector listed on the ticket to clear up the obvious confusion.

But, to her astonishment, things didn't go as planned.

"The inspector's response was there was a piece of trash in the alley with Harper's name on it," Theresa told the Post in a phone interview. "I said, 'I understand that, but she's only 2 years old. Are you willing rescind the ticket?' She said, 'No.'

"They list Harper as a 'violator.' As a mom, it bothered me."

Public Works issued two $75 tickets — one for each piece of mail — but Theresa insisted the family would never intentionally litter, and it's likely the two letters somehow came loose from the trash bin they place in the alley each week for garbage pickup.

She surmised that because large garbage trucks cannot fit in the narrow alley, the advance team which drags everyone's trash to the main road either forgot a bag or the letters somehow came loose. Either way, Theresa emphasized none of the Westover clan is a litterbug — and Public Works jumped to a conclusion based solely on the envelopes' addressees.